Label inspection machine



1965 J. D. GIULIE ETAL 3,203,547

LABEL INSPECTION MACHINE Filgd April 3, 1962 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSZJOE 0. G/UL/E 2/0/1420 A W000 1965 J. n. GIULIE ETAL 3,203,547

LABEL INSPECTION MACHINE Filed April 3, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 VENTORSJOE 6/0415 E/CHAED ,4. W000 Aug. 31, 1965 J. D- GIULIE ETAL 3,203,547

LABEL INSPECTION MACHINE Filed April 3, 1962 :s Sheets-Sheet :s

INVENTORS. J05 0. 6/01. /E

RICHARD A- W000 United States Patent 3,203,547 LABEL INSPECTION MACHllNEJoe D. Giulia and Richard A. Wood, Sunnyvale, Calif.,

assignors to lilumitronic Systems @orporation, a corporation ofCalifornia lFiled Apr. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 184,731 1 Claim. (Cl. 20941113)This invention relates to a label inspection machine and moreparticularly relates to a machine for inspecting the labels on glassjars or similar containers. The device of the present invention willdetermine whether the label is present or not and also will determinewhether the label, if present, is squarely in place and free fromdogears. It can also detect missing lids.

The machine of the present invention provides an inspection device whichcan operate at high speeds so that normal labeling lines are not sloweddown in their operation. Further, the device of the present invention isrelatively simple and has along service life.

Another feature of the present invention is that it is adapted toinspect labels on cans or jars of widely varying sizes and can bereadily adjusted to different sizes with little effort.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device for inspectinglabels which will automatically segregate those containers having adefective label or no label.

In the drawings forming a part of this application:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a device embodying the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, partial perspective View of the upper portionof the device shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a partial side view of that portion of the device whichdetects whether the label is in place.

FIGURE 4 is an end view through that portion of the device which detectswhether a label is dog-cared, and shows .the support mechanism for thephotocells and associated equipment.

FIGURE 5 is a partial top view of the portion shown in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram of a suitable operating circuit for thelabel inspector.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters, the device comprisesa base member 7 having four upstanding legs h, each of which is slottedas at 11 and adapted to receive a leg extension 13, said leg extensionsbeing adapted to be adjusted to a desired height by means of the bolts15. The leg extensions 13 support a pair of parallel spaced rails,generally designated 17 and 19, which are adjustable relative to eachother by means of threaded members 21 located at each end of the machineand provided with hand wheels 23 so that the rails can be moved closertogether or further apart depending upon the size of the containersbeing inspected. The rails are provided with flat surfaces 25 forsupporting a container in rolling contact. As can be readily seen fromFIGURE 1, the rails are are set at an angle to the base so that when aglass jar or tin can is placed at the left-hand side of the machine, itwill roll down the rails. The surfaces are interrupted by the swivelmembers 27 which are controlled by solenoids 30 within the housings 29located on each side of the track. Beyond the members 27 are the members28 each of which is pivoted and held in place with a spring 32. At highrates of speed, a jar will not fall sufficiently to clear the trackduring its pas sage along the members 27 and the members 28 will springout of the way to enable a jar to pass. In their normal position, themembers 27 allow a jar or can to roll over them, so that a jar will rollwithout interruption from one end of the rails to the other. On theother hand, should the solenoids 30 retract the members 27, anycontainer riding on the rails will drop through to the 3,23,547 PatentedAug. 31, 1965 secondary rails 31 which serve as a diversion path forjars having a defective label, pushing the members 28 out of the way, ifnecessary. The hand wheel 34A is connected to a pinion which actsagainst a rack to adjust the position of the drop out mechanism on theframe while the members 34B clamp the mechanism in place when thedesired position is obtained.

In the embodiment illustrated, the label inspector has two photocells.The first is adapted to tell whether a label is present, and if present,whether it is on straight or turned at an angle. The second photo-celldetermines whether the label is properly pasted down or whether it isdog-eared. It will be apparent that the machine need not have bothfunctions and that a device could be built with only one set ofphotocells if both types of inspection were not desired in a singlemachine.

The photocell equipment, as well as the light sources and power supply,are all supported by the rectangular rail 33 which is supported by meansnot shown just behind the rail 19. The rail 33 has thereon a rectangularclamp member 35 with .an adjusting screw 37 so that the member 35 can bemoved and fixed at any desired point along the rail 33. Extendingupwardly from the member 35 is the threaded member 39 which in turnsupports the cross-head 41. The cross-head 41 serves to support acontrol box 43 and also supports the bar 45. The bar 45 in turn supportsa pair of photocells and associated light sources. The bar 45 can beadjusted to any desired height by changing the position of cross-head 41on the threaded member 39.

The first light source 47 is carried on one end of bracket 49 which isattached to the bar 45 while the second photocell 51 is supported at theopposite end of the bracket 49. The light source 47 emits a narrow beamof light 53 generally parallel to the path of travel of a jar 55 as itrolls down the rails 17 and 19. The reflected beam 57 from the jar ispicked up by the cell 51. A secondlight source 59 is mounted by abracket 61 on the bar 45 while its companion photocell 63 is alsomounted on the bar 45 by means of a bracket 65. The beam of light fromthe source 59 is generally at right angles to the path of travel of ajar being inspected, although preferably it is set at a slight angle tothe perpendicular to provide a better scanning action. The source 59puts out a beam 66, the purpose of which is to detect .a dog-ear 67 on ajar 55.

Thus, as a jar rolls down the rails, the light source 47 will cause areflection from the edge of the jar into the photocell 51, while thebeam from the light source 59 will be interrupted with respect to thephotocell 53 in the event a jar with a label having a dog-ear passesthrough the machine. The photocel-ls are electrically connected throughan amplifier circuit to the relay 3% so that if the label is missingentirely or is set at an angle from the jar, or if the label has adog-ear, the relay 3% will be actuated, diverting the jar to the path31.

The circuit by which this is accomplished is shown in FIGURE 6. Thephotocell 51 is .a selenium self-generating cell which normally gives aslight forward bias to the transistor Q1 which may be .a PNP such as a2N1-194. Bias is obtained by means of resistors 70 and 72 and when asharp pulse of light strikes cell 51, a negative pulse will be generatedand appear on the base of transistor Q1. The photocell 63 is a germaniumphotocell which is not self-generating but which decreases in resistanceas light strikes it, so that if light is withdrawn from the cell 63, thevoltage drop across the resistors 69 and 7 1 is decreased, causing anegative pulse to pass through the capacitor 73 and on to the base ofthe transistor Q1. A negative pulse on the base of the transistor Q1from either the photocell 51 or the photocell 63 is amplified andinverted and passes through the capacitor 75 to the base of w thetransistor Q2, where it is further amplified and inverted and passed tothe transistor Q3. Thermistor 76 serves to provide temperaturecompensation by varying the forward bias voltage on Q2. The transistorQ3 is a transistor of the PNP type, such as a Tungsol 2Nl968. A siliconPNPN device could be substituted as Q3 by inverting all the voltages inwhich case Q1 and Q2 become NPN. When a negative pulse strikes Q3, theloop gain exceeds unity and it goes into a heavy conduction condition,causing the relay 30 to close. Normally, the transistor Q3 wouldcontinue to conduct so that a switch 77 is placed in series with therelay, which switch opens when the members 27 are retracted. This breaksthe circuit, turning off Q3 which de-energizes the relay and permits themembers 27 to swing back into place. As the members 27 return, thecontacts of switch 77 close, so that the relay is in position for arepetition of the cycle. Thus, the action is such that a negative pulsefrom either cell 51 or 63 is amplified, causing the relay 29 to close,retracting the members 27 and allowing the jar to pass down the path 31.As the members 27 retract, they open the switch 77, which removescurrent from the relay 30, allowing the members 27 to assume theirformer position so that the device is ready for a repetition of thecycle. A diode 78 prevents the relay kick-back voltage from damaging Q3while silicon diode 80 provides temperature stability.

It will be seen that the photocell 51 receives a reflection from thelight source 47 whenever a jar passes over the path. However, if a labelis in place, the reflection is relatively Weak, because of the diffusioneifeet of a paper label. On the other hand, should the label be missing,a very bright reflection will be received from the mirrorlike surface ofthe jar. The cell 51 is adjusted in such a manner that the reflectionfrom a label will not produce a sutficiently high negative peak toactuate the relay. On the other hand, the higher peak produced by thereflection from a glass jar will be sufiicient to actuate the relay.Normally, the cell 51 and associate light source 47 are placed at thevery edge of the label. Thus, if the label is in place, a relativelyweak, difiused reflection will be produced, while if the label ismissing entirely, or, if it is slightly ofl center so that there is somereflection from the glass jar itself, the sharp pulse will be producedon the photocell 51. In this manner, it the label is missing or if it isturned at an angle, a negative pulse will be produced by the cell 51,while if the label has a dog-ear, a pulse will be produced on the cell63, so that in either 4 instance a negative pulse will be produced atthe base of the transistor Q1, actuating the relay and causing a jar tobe deflected to the path 31.

Although only one cell 51 has been shown to inspect the edge of thelabel, it is obvious that this cell and its associated light sourcecould be duplicated so that both the top and bottom edges of the labelcould be inspected simultaneously.

It is believed apparent from the foregoing that we have produced asimplified jar inspection device which will detect whether a label ispresent, whether a label is on straight, or whether it is dog-cared.

Although various circuit values have been given it will be understoodthat these are for illustration only and that other values can besubstituted.

We claim:

A label inspection machine comprising in combination:

(a) a pair of spaced, slanting rails over which containers can roll;

(b) a pair of swivel members, one located on each rail;

(c) said swivel members normally forming a continuation of the rails,and being adapted to swivel outwardly from each other whereby acontainer passing thereover will fall between the swivel members andonto a diversion path;

(d) pivoted spring biased members forming a continuation of the path oftravel beyond the swivel members whereby as the swivel members swingoutwardly allowing a container to partly fall below the level of therails, the container will push the pivoted spring members aside,permitting the container to complete its travel below the rails and ontothe diversion path;

(e) photoelectric means supported over the rails, said photoelectricmeans being adapted to activate the swivel members, causing them toswing outwardly upon the passage of a defective container under thephotoelectric means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,270,428 1/42Flint 209-74 X 2,800,226 7/57 Drennan 209--l1l.5 2,971,646 2/61 Cofley20911l.5

ROBERT B. REEVES, Acting Primary Examiner.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, SAMUEL F. COLEMAN,

Examiners.

